22 LAWS APPLICABLE TO THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



first, nineteen hundred and eleven (Thirty-sixth Statutes at Large, 

 page nine hundred and sixty-three), is hereby amended by striking 

 out the word " five " in the first line of said section, and inserting in 

 lieu thereof the word " twenty-five." 



RESERVATIONS FOR WATER-POWER SITES AND OTHER PURPOSES. 



Power site and other withdrawals. 



Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847). 



That the President may, at any time in his discretion, temporarily 

 withdraw from settlement, location, sale, or entry any of the public 

 lands of the United States including the District of Alaska and 

 reserve the same for water-power sites, irrigation, classification of 

 lands, or other public purposes to be specified in the orders of with- 

 drawals, and such withdrawals or reservations shall remain in force 

 until revoked by him or by an act of Congress. 



Sec. 2 [as amended by the act of Aug. 24, 1912, 37 Stat., 497]. 

 That all lands withdrawn under the provisions of this act shall at all 

 times be open to exploration, discovery, occupation, and purchase 

 under the mining laws of the United States, so far as the same apply 

 to metalliferous minerals: Provided, That the rights of any person 

 who, at the date of any order of withdrawal heretofore or hereafter 

 made, is a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas bearing lands 

 and who, at such date, is in the diligent prosecution of work leading 

 to the discovery of oil or gas, shall not be affected or impaired by 

 such order so long as such occupant or claimant shall continue in dili- 

 gent prosecution of said work: Provided further, That this act shall 

 not be construed as a recognition, abridgment, or enlargement of any 

 asserted rights or claims initiated upon any oil or gas bearing lands 

 after any withdrawal of such lands made prior to June twenty-fifth, 

 nineteen hundred and ten: And provided further. That there shall 

 be excepted from the force and effect of any withdrawal made under 

 the provisions of this act all lands which are, on the date of such 

 withdrawal, embraced in any lawful homestead or desert-land entry 

 theretofore made, or upon which any valid settlement has been made 

 and is at said date being maintained and perfected pursuant to law ; 

 but the terms of this proviso shall not continue to apply to any par- 

 ticular tract of land unless the entryman or settler shall continue to 

 comply with the law under which the entry or settlement was made : 

 And provided further, That hereafter no forest reserve shall be cre- 

 ated, nor shall any additions be made to one heretofore created, within 

 the limits of the States of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, 

 Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming, except by act of Congress. 



Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior shall report all such 

 withdrawals to Congress at the beginning of its next regular session 

 after the date of the withdrawals. 



DECISIONS. 



Although a withdrawal of public land from sale by the Secretary 

 of the Interior for public use in connection with a forest reservation 

 was unauthorized at the time, it was validated by the continued 

 recognition of the withdrawal and use of the land since act June 



